In this digital age, running businesses online has become the norm. From rare collectibles to services, they’re all just a click away.

Two mothers, Low Soo Lyn (better known as Sue) and Jasmine Chong, turned to the blogosphere for just that.
These women are self-taught photographers who started indulging in photographing babies and children some three years ago.

They are just so lovable and adorable, cooed the working mums.

Jasmine has two children while 32-year-old Sue has three. They prefer to remain behind-the-camera and have requested not to have their mugs featured.

Regardless, taking a look at their artistic shots at http://two-pixels.net, you can’t help but fall in love with the plethora of shots Jasmine and Sue have done.

“It all started with Sue’s idea of taking photographs of newborns for friends. Thereafter, we decided to take this little hobby of ours to the next level,” said Jasmine, 31, about the birth of their photoblog, which is very young, only nine months old.

“Now, we not only photograph newborns but we also take pregnancy shots, family photos and pictures of young children. This is simply because photographing the newborn is still a very new concept for Malaysians and many times, parents are very skeptical about stripping down their babies,” explained Jasmine.

“Most of our customers are referrals from friends or blog hoppers. Initially, we started off with a circle of new mums, whom we got to know via the blogsphere, and they helped spread the word around.

“Nowadays we are looking at customers who reached us via the World Wide Web,” said Jasmine. What’s so unique about Two Pixels, said the mums, are their shooting locations.

The first is an outdoor spot near the client’s home and the other is an indoor locale in the home.

“We believe that everyone is most comfortable in their home, which is why we want photographs to be taken at home, not in a studio.”

Sue and Jasmine do everything themselves – from photographing to post-processing – alleviating any unease and apprehension parents may feel.

Here is how Two Pixels view the blogosphere.

How challenging has it been to set up and maintain the blog?

The challenges we faced, being two sceptical mums, is our blog design. It took us days to decide the design and colour scheme.

Maintaining the blog itself is also a challenge because we have so many photoshoots back-to-back, but we try our best to keep the blog alive by putting up posts at least two or three times a month.

A Malaysian photographer shares her story-within-a-story with New Yorkers through her Imaging Selfs exhibition in Manhattan.

WHILE some people see dyslexia as a learning disability, Soraya Yusof Talismail sees it as a gift.

Soraya (pic, right), 40, is often described as one of Malaysia’s finest portrait photographers who includes among her subjects luminaries like Queen Elizabeth II and the late Yasser Arafat.

She is also dyslexic. Grappling with numbers, symbols, and written words can be quite a task, she admits, but this is compensated by an astute observation of things around her and an ability to think in terms of pictures.

Her childhood ambition was to be an architect but she failed to qualify for the course in college as she was “no good with numbers”, Soraya confided during an interview.

Fate had something else lined up and she pursued photography at ITM instead. That was some 20 years ago. Soraya has had no regrets, describing her career as a “successful arranged marriage” where she has grown to love photography.

Her talent and creativity have taken her to interesting places, the latest being the Big Apple, where she held a solo exhibition entitled Imaging Selfs: New York last month.

Soraya was invited by Eng Tay, a Malaysian-born artist who has made NYC home for more than 30 years, to hold her exhibition in conjunction with the launch of his ETAY Gallery in Broadway, Manhattan.

The exhibition showcases Soraya’s portraits of 26 Malaysian artistes who have made it big on home ground or elsewhere and have some ties with the US, either through their arts foundation, exhibitions, or their own merit or have been influenced by American pop culture or creative sentiments.

It is a spin-off from Soraya’s Imaging Selfs exhibition held at the Petronas Gallery in Kuala Lumpur last November, featuring black and white portraits of 80 Malaysian artistes. Imaging Selfs is the culmination of a 15-year project started when a young Soraya, fresh out of college, wanted to capture the portraits of Malaysian talents and bring out the essence of their personalities.

Then 24, Soraya relentlessly trailed some of the biggest names in the arts from state to state, trying to fix appointments, persuading them to have their portraits taken and planning location shoots. To finance her artistic project she did formal portraits.

By the time her Imaging Selfs portraiture exhibition was held, Soraya had immortalised many of Malaysia’s finest artists on print.

The list goes on. But what stands out in her artistic works is that no one race dominates.

“I don’t see our artistes as Malay, Indian, Chinese, Sabahan or Sarawakian. To me, they are all talented Malaysians who have contributed to the country and who we should be proud of,” she said.

Apart from performing artistes who often appear before large crowds, many of her subjects were incredibly shy people who needed to be persuaded to go before the camera.

It took her almost 10 years to get playwright Dr Noordin Hassan to finally agree to have his portrait taken, Soraya recalled.

The first artist she photographed for the project in 1994 was a good friend, Bayu Utomo Radjikin, a founder member of the Matahati art group. Some of the artistes are friends of her husband Ariff Awaluddin, an artist-photographer who also runs a bistro in Petaling Jaya.

Many artistes featured in the New York exhibition had explored their beginnings in the US. Jenny Chin, Mac Chew and Acis were products of the Berklee College of Music, artist photographer Ismail Hashim went to Washington State University, while Latiff Mohidin attended Pratt Institute in New York. Choreographer dancer Ramli Ibrahim has performed from coast to coast.

Soraya’s first SLR camera was a Nikon FG and till today, she prefers the conventional camera to the digital camera for her portraits; she believes film gives better tonal quality.

Soraya and Ariff love travelling and spend over a month each year visiting exotic and interesting places with their 11-year-old son Ushuaia.

Soraya said her travels, sometimes coinciding with her exhibitions or talks on photography, have given her a better insight, not just of the world but also of things back home.

For Soraya, holding the New York exhibition has been a challenging experience.

“We had to do everything ourselves, from getting the artwork ready, seeking funds, planning our flights from KL, accommodation, designing the catalogue, sending out invitations, and even preparing the refreshments!”

Still, holding an exhibition in the Big Apple is a personal triumph for Soraya. Her Imaging Selfs is her story within a story – a journey that carries with it the artistic journeys of her peers.

“Shanker was enthusiastic on this programme which was lucrative and also provided youngsters to be independent. After several discussions, the SPA also roped in the Selangor Video Photographers Club (SVA) to be part of the programme.

“Our principal office bearers will be conducting the course. Our aim is to give an insight on the photography industry in Malaysia.

“We want to see more youngsters to take up photography. There are a lot of job opportunities as well as openings for them to progress in life,’’ said Arulnathan after the launch in Klang recently.

Shanker said the photography course was a follow up to a crime prevention programme held last month.

“About 200 youngsters attended the programme.

“The youngsters had voiced their opinion and wanted us to organise more programmes. We felt a photography course will benefit them.

“We are happy that SPA and SVA were receptive to our idea. About 40 youngsters will attend the first programme.

The participants will accompany SPA and SVA officials for for on the job training.

“The programme will be an ongoing one and we hope to create job opportunities for the participants as well,’’ said Shanker.